Vanessa Redgrave

Joshua Logan didn't mind one bit replacing Broadway's Guinevere Julie Andrews with Vanessa Redgrave when he filmed Lerner & Loewe's Camelot. He said something to the effect of "Can anyone imagine a country going to war over Julie Andrews' face?" Diss.

Vanessa's, of course, a consummate actress and gives Guinevere her personal brand of pathos. She does a very melodramatic "I Loved You Once In Silence" so I opted for "The Simple Joys Of Maidenhood."

She apparently wore a dress made entirely of pumpkin seeds for this movie. I tried to grab a pic but no dice.

Helena Bonham Carter

I think the story goes: Hal Prince wanted Stephen Sondheim to write a music-hall number for Angela Lansbury on Broadway in Sweeney Todd. Hence "By The Sea." Helena Bonham Carter squeaks it out in Tim Burton's movie version.

Catherine O'Hara

Wonderfully talented, beautiful and infinitely funny is Catherine O'Hara, who's created the soul and the schtick of some of Christopher Guest's best characters. (I was going to use "God Loves A Terrier" from Best In Show for this blog when I had no idea she'd done "Sally's Song" from Nightmare Before Christmas.)

The pic of her at top is from her stint in Curb Your Enthusiasm. Had no idea she'd done that either =P

Renee Zellweger

She was a revelation. Even Nicole said Renee Zellweger shoulda won the Oscar that year instead of her. Renee's rendition of "Roxie" comes in the middle of Hollywood's take on Bob Fosse's Chicago, and it proves to be a whammy of a diversion. Looking suspiciously like it's being filmed on video, and drawing anachronistic similarities to Marilyn Monroe and The Twilight Zone, Renee bounces from one mirror reflection of herself to the other, proclaiming the truth about becoming a celebrity. Brilliant. And raw.

Renee Zellweger IS Roxie Hart. Gross as she is, we can't our eyes off her.

Jean Harlow

Interesting stuff on IMDB.com:

[Reckless] was inspired by the life of torch singer Libby Holman, whose husband, tobacco heir Zachary Smith Reynold's suicide caused a scandal (Libby was initially indicted for murder), and she was accused of murder.

Jean Harlow felt the story had disturbing similarities to the suicide of her second husband, Paul Bern. Jean Harlow believed she was cast in the picture in a deliberate attempt to capitalize on that event, and she refused the role at first. In William Powell's autobiography, he says he convinced her to accept the role rather than be suspended [by Selznick].

After the movie was completed and shot as a straight drama, MGM decided to make it into a musical, so production was resumed. This became one of Jean Harlow's few real flops. It's failure pleased Libby Holman immensely. 

Jayne Mansfield

The many faces of Jayne Mansfield. Chameleon, muse, starlet....Madonna's inspiration for the Academy Awards performance of "Sooner Or Later," penned by Stephen Sondheim for Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy. Remember...?

Anyway, as my roommate says, "Jayne Mansfield threw anything at the wall just to see what would stick!" And it's kinda true. But, hey, I would never begrudge a girl's shot at enterprise. I mean, she's always on the phone. Girls makin deals!

Here Miss Mansfield sings "That Makes It" from The Las Vegas Hillbillys ... on the phone: